Almighty and merciful God, defend Your Church from all false teaching and error that Your faithful people may confess You to be the only true God and rejoice in your good gifts of life and salvation; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
My ministry began over 30 years ago. That means I was privileged to serve the final days of the generation who fought in World War II. Most of them are gone now; although, a few remain among us. This text reminds me of talking to Ted; he had served as a corpsman, a medic, with the Marines in the Pacific campaign, on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I had read of those battles and the fierce fighting that took place. When he told me that he had been there, I marveled at his bravery and that of his comrades. “Yes,” he said. “But really you put your life in God’s hands. He was going to get you through this, or he was going to raise you from the dead. Either way, your life is in his hands.” Ted now rests in Christ’s very capable hands. Jesus promises that he will lose none of those whom the Father has given Him. We pray in this prayer that God keeps us from all error and false teaching so we can confess God to be the only true God and to rejoice in His gifts. In a very real sense, your god will always be that person or thing which will bring to you the greatest life and salvation. If you believe that to be science, then science is your god and science will get the very best you have to offer. But science will disappoint us. Medical science may in fact give us a vaccine or a new treatment which prevents a heart attack, but eventually we all die. Science fails to save us. Ted was given to see this clearly as he stormed up the beaches of far away islands while an enemy tried to kill him. Ted’s weapons, training, and everything else was a tool, but these things were not his God. That status, that role, belonged solely to the One whom no bullet or bomb could thwart. The enemy could blow up Ted, but God would put the pieces back together again and raise him from the dead. That is the One whom Ted and we confess to be the true God and in whose gifts we rejoice.